Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday announced many sops for Muslims. The benefits include a new Haj House on par with international standards, an auditorium at the Jamia Nizamia at the cost of Rs 9.60 crore, additional funds for the Quli Qutb Shah tombs and a green channel for flow of funds to the minorities department.

Mr Rao added, “Any student in the state who wants to learn Urdu should be allowed to learn the language at school.”

On Day 1 of the two-day international conference on “Muslims, Democracy and the Media: Challenges and Prospects” held at Maulana Azad National University (MANUU), eminent journalists from India and Pakistan discussed stereotyping of Muslims by mainstream media, how Urdu was becoming a tool for ghettoization, representation of the community in international media and other issues.

Veteran journalist Satish Jacob, who has covered the Middle East for BBC, said, “When Iraq was under attack, the Western media had a perception that Saddam Hussein was holding weapons of mass destruction. However, even till date, nothing of that sort has been found. There is a large amount of misinformation and disinformation in the international media.”

Andrew McAllister, British Deputy High Commissioner to Hyderabad, said, “Media bears a grave responsibility for its negative coverage and focus on actions of a provocative fringe. Media should focus on shaping positive perceptions too.”

While a majority of the speakers focused on how actions of a proactive fringe from the religion were marring the image of the, entire Muslim population, a few speakers did voice concerns about how intolerance was slowly growing in the community.

“I never forget to wear a topi (cap) during prayers. However, at a Masjid, when I once forgot to wear it, an old person came and put it on my head immediately. The point is, intolerance is shown even for such reasons as not wearing a topi,” said Chancellor of MANUU, Mr Zafar Sareshwala. “Islam is not intolerant, Musalman are becoming so,” he said, adding that it was high time that “the cat came out of the bag”.

Pointing out how Pakistani cricketers always started their post-match speeches thanking god, Jawed Naqvi, New Delhi correspondent of Pakistan daily Dawn, said, “When no other community does that, why do we need to be so explicit?”

“It is not Allah’s meherbaani that Taliban came into Afghanistan. There are certain problems on our part too, and there is a certain level of international exploitation,” Mr Naqvi added.

Eminent journalists from Pakistan, Mr Najam Sethi, Mr Imtiaz Alam, and Mr Mehmal Sarfraz participated in the event.